Obama finally got hammered! I was thinking about this the other day actually. Was looking at some jeweler and lapidary videos -- what a messy hobbie! I look forward to it!
Obama finally got hammered! I was thinking about this the other day actually. Was looking at some jeweler and lapidary videos -- what a messy hobbie! I look forward to it!
"The complete metalsmith" by Tim Mccreight is a great book you can pick up pretty cheap. That and another titled "the design and creation of jewelry" were the required texts when I fisrt took a jewelry class in Junior College. I still refer to the metalsmith book to this day. Is there a mineral and gem society in your county? Sometimes they teach lapidary classes and such. I used to teach the junior classes at one in Sonoma County. I really need to join our local club but my truck hasn't been that reliable lately.
Thanks for the tip! My wallet hasn't been that reliable lately for much of anything so I feewl you there. Wanting to get out there and make stuff happen is easier said then done.
I would think that there is a mineral and gem society around here...this is agate central. I'll have to look it up.
https://hitechdiamond.com/shop/all-u-need-lap-machine/ here's a link to the site for the cabbing machine I have.
It be different than what you would want to build. One with verticle wheels might suite you better. These are pretty inexpensive as far as cabbing machines go. Check out the Titan from Diamond Pacific Co. If you could afford their Nova wheels and design a machine around that, you would have an amazing unit.
a "Cab King" is another popular unit that is pretty popular lately. The wheels wear out fast so people put the Nova wheels on them...
Here's the same saw I use. Some people buy a cheap tile saw and put a good lapidary blade on it...
Hope you find one. Sometime's a club will have equiptment sometime's not. Certainly a good place to start though. My health hasn't been the best this winter. My wallet and truck are suffering as a result lol.
I've been watching a lot of DIY videos on how to build my own equipment. My buddy is a machinist, so he knows how to make the pieces I need. Also has a few belt sanders, but we need to make it safe.
One of my friends kept sanding his rocks dry, but I convinced him to stop until we can get some water involved. It'll be quite the project this summer that I plan on sharing here! Speaking of which -- would you share pictures of your tools? I'd love to see what all you use.
Ya working on stones dry is really bad idea. Serpentine and abalone shells have asbestos in them. I'll steal some screenshots of the machines I use off their websites. Be easier than dragging my saw out of my trailer lol.
Here's my unit set up in the sink of an old fifth wheel. I don't really care about the plumbing, so I just let the sludge of rock bits and water drain down the sink. Lol messy buisness for sure.
Thanks for all the info! Much appreciated! It's the results that counts, the set-up looks great!
I can't do any heavy production work on it, but it works for me. The main problem with this type is how long it takes to dry and change the wheels out. It takes like 10-20 minutes before you can move on to the next grit. Pretty time consuming so I don't usually sell the cabs by themselves... Nice to be able to make whatever I need for jewelry and sell some of my extras.